


Public Dismays of Affection

by berlynn_wohl



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, Failboats In Love, Hand Jobs, M/M, Public Display of Affection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 08:55:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13971633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/berlynn_wohl/pseuds/berlynn_wohl
Summary: (Inspired by the elevator teaser clip from Uprising.) Hermann has a policy about PDA. When Newt violates it, they end up having a little discussion.





	Public Dismays of Affection

It happened so quickly, so subtly, that likely no one noticed except Newt himself. But he noticed.

He and Hermann were in line at the coffee shop. They were standing side-by-side when the barista beckoned them to the register to place their order. Newt put his hand on the small of Hermann’s back, to nudge him forward so he could go first. Newt always liked to wait until the last possible second to place his own order, so he could change his mind three more times about what he wanted.

Hermann did not seem to mind Newt’s hand until they were standing still again, and Newt let his hand linger there, stroking in very small circles. That was when Hermann reached back to gently grasp the hand and return it to Newt’s side. As he did this, he began reciting his order, as though nothing remarkable had happened.

Newt said nothing about it, but he was terrible at hiding his feelings, and was noticeably grumpy for the rest of the day. During the lecture they gave at Penn State, he went through the prepared part of his presentation flatly and with no enthusiasm, and answered questions curtly. Hermann had taken note the moment Newt’s foul mood began, and so he was fairly certain of the cause, but he could do nothing about it while others were around.

After the lecture, they were driven back to their hotel. They went up to their shared room, with Hermann entering first, and Newt closing the door behind them. Not wishing to delay the discussion a moment longer, Hermann immediately turned around to face Newt, though he mostly looked at the floor as he said, “I’m sorry for what I did when we were in line, but you know how I feel about public displays of affection.”

Newt shrugged out of his jacket, hung it up, and with an ease born from habit, took Hermann’s jacket from him and did the same. “Yeah, I know,” he grumbled, “but I thought you meant, like, making out at the DMV. Not a hand on your back.”

“It just makes me uncomfortable. What we have is very special to me, but it is private. I don’t want strangers to look at us behaving that way with each other. I hope you can continue to respect that.”

“I can. I will.” Still quite dejected, Newt brushed past Hermann, sat on the bed, and kicked his boots off. Hermann removed his shoes closer to the door, but then joined Newt on the edge of the bed. They sat in silence for a while, Newt waiting for Hermann to say something, Hermann getting up the courage to say it. While Hermann stood by his views on such demonstrations in public, he was frustrated that it upset Newt so, especially as he would have liked to enjoy some intimacy with Newt now that they were alone. And while he dared not encourage Newt, a new line of thought now gripped him.

“Just out of curiosity,” he finally said, clearing his throat, “Let’s say I didn’t have a problem with public displays of affection, and didn’t stop you from being so…demonstrative. What would you do?”

Newt laughed at this, and raised an eyebrow at Hermann. “Are you asking for sex?”

“What?” Hermann looked indignant. “No.”

Newt put his hand on Hermann’s shoulder. “Listen, we’ve been together long enough now, I understand that you can never just tell me when you want sex. Instead, you sit down next to me and get quiet and kinda wiggle around and act weird until I pay the right kind of attention to you.”

“This is not that,” Hermann sputtered. “I’m just asking you a question.”

“Okay, sure,” Newt said, dubiously. “So like, this is about what I would do if it was just _you_ not stopping me? I’d still have to worry about other people judging us, though?”

“Yes.”

“Ha! _Well_.” Hermann smirked at Newt’s reaction. He knew that the amount that Newt cared about the opinions of strangers could not be measured under an electron microscope. “Here,” Newt said, “stand up.”

They stood side by side at the edge of the bed. Newt had a whole database of things to answer Hermann’s question, as he’d spent a lot of time fantasizing about being publicly affectionate with Hermann, pretty much every time they went out.

“So like, there’s this, right?” Newt placed his flat palm against the small of Hermann’s back, like he’d done at the coffee shop. He kept his hand still, and just rubbed his thumb rhythmically back and forth. “See, this isn’t too in-your-face, but it tells everyone that we’re together. And then I can do this.” He tickled his fingers up Hermann’s spine, past his collar, to stroke the nape of his neck. “Or this.” Now his hand traveled back down, past where it had originally rested, to glide over Hermann’s rump. He gave one cheek a playful squeeze for good measure.

Hermann jumped. “Oh, well now that is just entirely inappropriate,” he snapped at Newt.

“You asked what I would do if there were no rules!”

“I did,” Hermann grudgingly admitted. He straightened his back and stared straight ahead, ready for the next onslaught. “Alright, carry on.”

“Okay, so let’s say my hand is here.” Newt returned to the small of Hermann’s back. “And maybe I gotta leave for a minute. I’d whisper something to you, then give you a little kiss. Like so.” His lips brushed the shell of Hermann’s ear as he whispered, soft and sultry, “ _Hey babe, I’m gonna go to the snack bar and get some nachos. Miss you already_.” Then he gave Hermann a light peck just behind his ear, where his hair was cropped close. He took one step away, pretending to leave, then immediately sprang back to his place by Hermann’s side. When he did, he saw that Hermann was blushing, and trying to suppress a giggle. “You like that one?” he asked.

Hermann shook a finger at him. “I’m not saying Yes and giving you notions that it’s alright to do that in public.”

“That’s fair,” Newt said, satisfied that he knew the truth.

Straight-faced again, Hermann softly prompted, “Alright, so what else?”

Newt grinned. Hermann was really into this. He put a hand on Hermann’s shoulder and nudged him to sit back down on the bed. “Okay, so you got your standard knee touch.” He placed his right hand on Hermann’s left knee, as demurely as one could do such a thing. “See, now this one, I like it because I can be looking over here, talking to this guy, I can be leaning over, talking to someone on that side of you, but the hand stays here. I’m anchored to you. It says that, you know, we’ve been together a while. We don’t need to gross people out being lovey-dovey all the time. _But_ , we’re still super into each other, and just because I can focus my attention on other things, you know, you’re still the most important thing. My being into you is a task that’s always running in the background. But then,” Newt said, his hand ever-so-slowly inching up Hermann’s leg, “If we’re like, at a table or something, so no one can see what’s going on down here, then I can do this, just kinda…”

Newt trailed off as his hand traveled up Hermann’s thigh. He took it very slow, waiting for Hermann to fidget, first with resistance, then with impatience. He kept going until he heard Hermann’s sharp little intake of breath, as the tip of one finger brushed Hermann’s prick through his trousers. It felt firmer than Newt had been expecting. “Whoa, Hermann, you got a little wood going on?”

Hermann snorted derisively, but he couldn’t actually deny it, as it was quite apparent, so he said nothing. Newt was delighted that Hermann was getting all hot and bothered just from this. “Let me show you my ultimate one, though,” he said. He explained that he and Hermann would have to sit up in the bed, so as to best simulate the experience. As they leaned back against the pillows, Newt said, “Okay, it’s time for us to get in our Ship Of The Imagination…”

Hermann groaned. “Don’t you start with that, now.”

“Sorry. Okay, so we’re in one of those fancy movie theaters with the cushy reclining seats. I shelled out for that kind of experience because I think you’re cute, and I’m hoping if I spend lots of money on you, you’ll put out.” Giving this demonstration another moment of thought, Newt switched the bedside lamp off, and turned the television on, to better simulate a moviegoing experience. “Now, we’re not quite alone in the theater; there’s a couple other people, but they’re all in front of us, so they can’t see. It’s like halfway through the movie, and it’s kind of boring maybe, and so I just reach over…”

Looking straight ahead, at the screen, Newt placed his hand on Hermann’s thigh, stroking it, making Hermann squirm with anticipation. Then, he skimmed with just his fingertips over the front of Hermann’s trousers, feeling the outline of his half-hard cock. He rubbed slowly, teasingly, back and forth, taking his time finding the button and zipper before unfastening them. When he reached inside, Hermann made a soft little sound. Newt gently shushed him. “You don’t want anyone to hear you,” he whispered, and drew out Hermann’s cock. “It’s okay though, it’s dark, no one can see us. Just enjoy it.”

Newt began to stroke Hermann, still slow but firm and steady, and with his free hand, he unzipped his own jeans, freeing his cock. He took Hermann’s wrist, placed his hand on it. Hermann instinctively gripped it and began to stroke. They didn’t look at each other, only at the screen.

Then Hermann whispered, “Can we kiss, too?”

“God yeah, we can.” Without hesitation, Newt pressed his open mouth to Hermann’s, tongue already out and searching. He paused just long enough to confess, “I come harder when we kiss during it.”

Despite the awkward angle, they stayed where they were, side by side, keeping up the pretense that they were in two movie theater seats. Hermann’s hand on Newt’s cock was just as jittery and uneven as it was on anything that it ever handled, but Newt still loved it. He just got such a kick out of what they were doing – no elaborate rituals, no toys, just two guys jerking each other’s dicks because they were so in love.

Hermann began to whimper against Newt’s mouth, a clear signal that his orgasm was imminent. Newt didn’t have the wherewithal to shush him again; watching Hermann get ready to come always made him ready to come too, and this was no exception. He could feel the moment when the first spark of it hit Hermann, and Newt let go in turn; they tugged each other through their mutual climax, breathing on each other’s mouths as their kissing deteriorated into breathy groans. Newt loved the feeling of Hermann’s cock twitching in his hand, and he kept squeezing it until Hermann put his free hand on Newt’s to still it.

“Oh dear, oh dear,” Hermann said, looking down.

“What’s the matter?”

“Look at the mess we’ve made of our clothes, and there are no laundry facilities in this hotel.”

It was always like this. Hermann couldn’t just bask, like a normal person. Newt sighed. “Hermann, it’s fine, we’ve got other clothes, and we’re going home tomorrow anyway.”

“I suppose.” Hermann let his head droop, post-orgasmic languor catching up with him at last. They leaned against each other, and Newt switched the television off, so they could laze together in silence. They were not the most comfortable they’d ever been, with their sticky hands and wet clothes, but unwilling to haul themselves out of bed to get cleaned up.

After a while, Hermann said, “There’s one other thing that I’ve seen people do, that you didn’t mention. What about, er, at a restaurant, feeding each other bits of food off our plates?”

Newt tensed suddenly beside him, and Hermann couldn’t tell right away if it was an awkward tension, or an excited tension, or one of the many other types of tension Newt exhibited on a regular basis. Finally, Newt said, somewhat accusatory, “Hermann.”

“What?”

“I was just trying to answer a question you asked me, okay? Please don’t spoil things by making it weird and gross.”

“Weird and – how is what I just suggested any weirder than what we…” Hermann paused and looked into Newt’s eyes. Dark as it was, he honestly couldn’t tell if Newt was being serious. But the longer he held Newt’s gaze, the more Newt’s expression fell apart, until he started laughing uncontrollably.

“Newton,” Hermann cried, “stop making fun of me this instant!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Newt put up one hand, cowering a little for good measure, as though Hermann were going to wallop him. “It’s not actually weird and gross!…I mean, it actually kind of is, but I’m not judging you for it…I’m joking! I’m sorry!”

“I don’t think you’re sorry at all,” Hermann sneered, and moved to get up.

“Hey, don’t be mad!” Newt followed Hermann into the bathroom, where, ignoring Newt, he turned on the shower and began to strip. “Hey, I’ll make it up to you,” Newt said, but Hermann was already stepping into the tub. Newt stopped him with a hand on his arm. He leaned very close and said softly, “Hey, hey, how about this: a little later, you want me to order some strawberries dipped in chocolate sauce from room service and feed them to you?”

“No,” Hermann said flatly, and then got under the shower. Then, after a moment, “Perhaps. Now are you getting in with me, or not?”

**Author's Note:**

> berlynn-wohl.tumblr for more of this sort of nonsense


End file.
